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iCharge Credit Card Solution

May 17, 2016 by Leave a Comment

A perfect payment solution for your business

iCharge is a PCI compliant and SAP certified credit card application integrates SAP Business One with Payment Gateways globally. iCharge processes credit card information between sales transaction in SAP Business One and payment processor service that obtains authorization information needed to approve the transaction. For all sales transactions generated in SAP Business One, iCharge authorizes and settles payment in real time and integrates them back into SAP Business One.

A perfect payment solution for your business?
  • Do most of your customers prefer to pay you through credit cards?
  • Do you feel the need to receive one payment against multiple deliveries?
  • Do you have to manually punch in the customer credit card details every time a payment is to be received?
  • Do you have to create multiple incoming payments in case the customer chooses to pay from different cards?

Do you need to have customer’s credit card details authorized at multiple stages in the sales process – at sales order, at delivery and at payment receipt?

A perfect payment solution for your business-small-image

If you answered yes to any or all of the above then you need the iCharge designed specifically for SAP Business One.

iCharge is Payment Card Industry (PCI) data security standard compliant and supports the a variety of payment processors that covers almost all major payment processors across the world.

  • Available in English, French, Italian, Spanish and Deutsch
  • Compatible with SAP Business One 9.1, 9.0, 8.81 and 8.8 

Following gateways are supported.

S.No. Payment Gateway Countries Supported
1 Authorize.net US
2 PayPal US, Aus
3 Heartland US, Canada
4 Commidea UK
5 Ogone UK
6 Moneris (Canada) US and Canada
7 Moneris (US) US
8 eWay Australia
9 DIBS Payment Denmark, Sweden, Norway
10 FirstData US, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Asia Pacific
11 ChronoPay Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK
12 SagePay UK
13 Mercurypay US
14 TSYS US
Filed Under: iCharge, SAP Business One Tagged With: , ,

Retail in 2015, and Beyond

February 26, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Retail in 2015, and Beyond

As always, technology would be a major contributor in reducing the gap between manufacturers and consumers. But the major trend is around the retailers’ acceptance of what has been launched previously. That, will be the face of retail technology in 2015. Whether it is contact-less payment options, chip-card standardization, or virtual stores, the consumer will be engaging with the retailer like never before.

The usage of smartphones has opened the doors to newer ways to transact through embedded technology, NFC devices (Near Field Communications) etc., which can be used in contact-less payment systems like Google Wallet and now, Apple Pay. Also, online transactions, virtual payments hDownload iVend Cloud Whitepapaerave gained edge as popularity of non-cash payments has grown as people make the shift towards cashless digital transactions.

By 2020, customers will certainly be using their smartphones and mobile devices to pay for a wide range of goods and services in this way. When the consumer has embraced the mobile (and how!), it would be retrograde for the retailer not to do the same. From contact-less payment acceptance, to beacons to the mass-acceptance of the Mobile POS, it has become imperative for the retailer to reach out to the customer via the mobile.

In an extension of the retailer using mobile technology as a bridge to reach out to the customer, beacons will play an instrumental role. Simply put, this enables the retailer to literally ‘guide’ the customer around the store, down the aisles, right up to the product, all using a Cloud based retail management system. And ping him with a discount coupon on the way, along with an upsell item of interest (which would be gleaned from his historical purchase data!).

Secondly, this year will also see retail integrations in a big way. Gone are the days when retailers picked the best individual application for merchandise hierarchy, a separate one for inventory management, and yet another one for transactions at the point of sale . The flip side was, despite doing their jobs well, these units failed to serve the company as a single integrated unit as all the processes churned out data in siloes.

The need, therefore is of an application that integrates all retail processes into one , a single all-inclusive ‘suite’ of retail management applications, which would be on virtual servers (and therefore, reducing the IT spend of the retailer). And the answer to it all is the Cloud. This technology can reduce a retailer’s IT spend to a fraction, quadruples the dependability and provides fail-safe operations like nothing else. Plus, hybrid Cloud systems provide greater control over retail operations, while keeping costs low.

2015 will also be the year when customers will want loyalty to be an integral part of the retailer. He or she should be able to check his loyalty point balance on the move from his tablet or phone, and the retailer should have provided a loyalty portal to indulge the former.

Conversely, the POS operator should also be able to access a customer’s historical purchase data, loyalty points and make a smart upsell without hassles. A customer having a loyalty account with a retailer provides a very valuable mode of communication, where he or she allows the retailers to contact the person with early-bird offers and value-additions. Either way, having a loyalty system as a component of your Integrated Business Management multichannel retail setup will make this part of customer retention more efficient and less labor-intensive.

Over the years, we have seen more and more physical retail businesses opening e-stores. This means they need well-designed e-commerce systems, new methods of merchant credit card processing, and better visual marketing. Security is also a major concern for many businesses with an electronic footprint. A Cloud-based Retail management suite can seamlessly integrate with your Retail application, managing your retail chain as well as your vendor platform over the Internet.

With such uninhibited influx of technology and data from distinct sources, what a retailer needs is an Integrated Retail Management Solution with a robust back-end enterprise which can work in tandem. This would have the capability to can ease the challenges in retail processes, along with providing clear visibility through the entire supply chain. To maintain the customer service provided in the retail market, it is an imperative to adopt retail management solution that easily runs simultaneous operations.

Essentially, what a retailer needs is a one-stop solution for his retail management needs, which is Cloud-capable and which can integrate all retail functions into a seamless whole. Available on terminal and mobile devices, iVend Cloud-based retail management suite’s multi-store, multi-user, e-commerce, loyalty-ready abilities empower retailers to engage with consumers on an entirely new level. With iVend Retail on Cloud, enterprise retailers can look beyond disparate software solutions and achieve optimum profitability.

Know more about iVend Cloud on https://citixsys.com/ivend-cloud/ or write to us on [email protected]

Filed Under: iVend Retail Tagged With: , , , ,

What’s Coming in iVend POS 6.4

February 17, 2015 by Leave a Comment

What’s Coming in iVend POS 6.4

iVend Cloud

Complete control and visibility over retail operations are a must for any retailer to stay competitive. iVend Retail has long been an invaluable enterprise class retail management solution for retailers of all sizes. Now, with the iVend Cloud offering, this is much faster and easier to achieve without the cost and complexity of deploying an on-premise solution. With the iVend Cloud you can be sure of access to the most up-to-date functionality without having to use your in-house IT resources to maintain the solution.

Because the software is delivered as a service, there’s no lengthy rollout, no requirement for time-consuming IT training, and no need for ongoing maintenance. You can get up and running quickly and with minimal disruptions. Also, your IT staff is freed up to focus on other tasks. By accessing iVend in the Cloud you can focus on your business, not your technology. Because you don’t need to invest in hardware infrastructure or experienced IT experts to manage and support the solution, the total cost of ownership is kept to a minimum. Costs are affordable, easy to understand, transparent, and predictable. In addition, by accessing the solution on the cloud, you can deploy the software quickly across your entire organization. This means you accelerate time to value and quickly start to see a return on your investment.

Multiple iVend Enterprise on single Machine

With iVend 6.4 multiple instances of iVend Enterprise can be deployed on a single machine.

Deployments with integration to SAP Business One can now have multiple iVend Enterprises integrated to different SAP Business One companies on a single physical machine.

This will also allow multiple deployments of iVend Unplugged or a combination of Unplugged and SAP Business One integrated iVend Enterprises on a single machine.

Tender Based Discounts and Surcharges

Tender based discounts and surcharges allow the user to offer additional discounts or apply additional surcharges based on the tender that is used at POS for paying the transaction.

Discounts and surcharges can be setup separately for the following payment methods:Download Brochure

  • Cash
  • Credit Card
  • Debit Card
  • Check
  • EBT
  • Custom Tender in Local Currency

Tender based discounts and surcharges can be setup for a date range and can also have a maximum threshold limit.

iVend Scheduler

The scheduler functionality in iVend 6.4 will enable the user to schedule the following activities:

  • Automated delivery of reports to a list of users at defined intervals via email.
  • Deliver output of a predefined database query to a list of users at defined intervals via email or SMS.
  • Send email communication to a list of customers / users segmented based on a predefined database query.

iVend 6.4 will support the following SMS Gateways for outbound SMS communication.

  • Nexmo
  • SMS Global
  • Click Send
  • ClikaTell

Act on Demand

The On Demand feature in iVend 6.4 allows the user to interact with the iVend system via SMS.

This feature will enable the user to request a report or output of a database query on demand by sending a SMS to a long / short code provided by the SMS Gateway.

The SMS Gateway integration in iVend intercepts the incoming SMS message and sends out the desired report / query output to the user via email.

iVend 6.4 will support the following SMS Gateways for the On Demand feature.

  • Nexmo
  • SMS Global
  • ClickSend

Sales/Item Attributes

iVend 6.4 allows user to create unlimited number of attributes that can be attached to a transaction or an item level. Using these attributes cashier can capture additional information from the customers while performing the transaction at POS.

Attributes can also be setup based on transaction types. Therefore based on the current transaction type being performed different information can be captured on the POS.

A regular expression can also be specified while defining these attributes. This allows validating the user input while capturing the details for these attributes on POS.

iVend Loyalty

With iVend 6.4 the loyalty module has been merged into the core iVend application and is no longer a separate application. With this the user experience is more uniform and application maintenance is low.

The loyalty module can be configured from the iVend Management Console.

SMS notification to customers for point updates has additionally been added to the Loyalty module.

Reason Codes

Support for capturing the reason codes has been extended to all Management Console transactions

Reason codes can also be captured for Suspended Transactions on the POS.

Existing reports are updated in iVend to display the captured reason codes.

Sale Refund

Sale Refund functionality has been enhanced in iVend 6.4. Users can now define Return days for individual products. Based on this setting the POS user can only refund products that fall within the return days time period from the date of sale.

Return surcharges can also be attached to individual products that will automatically add to the Sale Refund transaction

Sale Refund beyond the refund days or removing of refund surcharges can be approved by using the Manager Override functionality.

Scan Area

A new set of settings have been added to the Retail Profile in iVend 6.4 to control scanning of codes from the Scan Area.

These settings restrict / allow the user to scan the following codes from the scan area:

  • Product / Gift Card related information including Code, Barcode, Description, etc.
  • Customer related information including code, first name, last name, etc.
  • Sales person related information
  • Transaction Id
  • Loyalty related information

Account Receivable

Account Receivable management for customers has been included in iVend 6.4 for Unplugged deployments. Based on the credit limit and the current AR balance of the customer, system can block the customer from purchasing goods using the On Account payment type.

Moving Average Item Cost

Moving Average inventory valuation method has been introduced in iVend 6.4 for unplugged deployments. The system automatically updates the Item Cost for all inbound inventory movements and records the Item cost against outbound inventory transactions.

Surcharges on Goods Receipt PO

Surcharges can now be applied to Goods Receipt PO document in iVend.

For Unplugged deployments users can also select the surcharges that should be loaded on Item Cost.

Matrix Item View

New views for Matrix Items have been added in iVend 6.4.

Management Console users can now view child items and their inventories across stores / warehouses within a single screen.

POS users can filter matrix items by attributes / attribute values and select / add multiple child items to the transaction from a single screen.

Data Import / Export for Matrix Items

Data Import and Export functionality in iVend will now support exporting and importing of Matrix Items. The data import functionality supports creation / updating of Parent / Child items based on the data definition in the import excel template.

iVend Report Designer

iVend 6.4 includes an in-built report designer. This will allow users to create new reports or customize existing reports without requiring any third party reporting tool.

Reports created with the iVend Report Designer can be scheduled for automated delivery at defined intervals via email and can also be viewed in any standard browser using the iVend Web Report viewer component.

Report Enhancements

Following enhancements has been incorporated in iVend reports:

  • Filter criteria for reports now support date range such as Last Week, Last Month, etc.
  • Delivery report can be filtered based on fulfillment plan.

Dashboard Widgets – Auto Refresh Interval

The Dashboard functionality has been enhanced in iVend 6.4. Users will now have the facility to define a refresh interval for each dashboard widget and based on the defined interval the dashboards will auto-refresh the widget data.

New Dashboards

iVend 6.4 includes the following 2 dashboards out of the box:

    • Store Manager View
      • Total Sales for the Day
      • POS sale transaction value / volume
      • Till Tipple Point Status
      • Open Stock Transfer Requests
      • Open Purchase Orders
    • Loss Prevention
      • Suspended Sales
      • Item Scanning Exceptions
      • Voided Sales
      • Cash Drawer Manual Operation

Product Dashboard

With iVend 6.4 the dashboard functionality has been extended to the product screen. Users can click the Dashboard icon on the product screen to view the current product statistics.

Customer Dashboard

With iVend 6.4 the dashboard functionality has been extended to the customer screen. Users can click the Dashboard icon on the customer screen to view the current customer statistics.

Goods Return

Following enhancements have been incorporated in iVend for Goods Return:

  • A new setting has been provided in iVend 6.4 to restrict / allow the user from adding new product rows in the Goods Return document if the document is based on a Good Receipt Purchase Order.
  • A new validation has been incorporated to restrict the user from modifying the item price if the item being returned is based on a Goods Receipt Purchase Order document.
  • In previous versions of iVend, a Goods Return based on a Goods Receipt Purchase Order would integrate to SAP Business One as a baseless Goods Return document. With iVend 6.4 the Goods Return in SAP Business One will be based on the corresponding Goods Receipt Purchase Order.

Globalized On-Screen Keyboard

The onscreen keyboard on iVend POS has been replaced with a new multi-language keyboard in iVend 6.4. The new keyboard can be configured to allow the user to switch the keyboard language at run-time enabling data entry in multiple languages.

Suggested Printing of Labels after Price Change

Whenever store pricelists are updated the store users are required to reprint the item labels.

This functionality eases the re-printing of labels by suggesting a list of products for which the prices have changed since the last label printing.

Label printing is further enhanced to print labels based on In Stock quantity of an item.

Button Panel Enhancements

Several enhancements have been incorporated in quick button panel functionality. With iVend 6.4, users will be able to define the size of the button panel. The button panel can be configured to occupy up to 60 percent of the transaction screen. Moreover the number of button that would appear on the button panel can also be specified. This gives more control to the user as the user can now resize the buttons on the button panel according to their needs.

User can additionally configure the button panel to display the available quantity and item price. The Font colour on the buttons can as well be configured.

Transaction Screen on POS

A new set of settings has been added to the Retail Profile in iVend 6.4 to show / hide columns in the main transaction screen on the POS.

Customer Facing Display on POS

A new set of settings has been added to the Retail Profile in iVend 6.4 to configure the customer display. These settings control the following aspects of the customer display:

  • Show / Hide columns on Customer Display
  • Adjust Row height
  • Adjust Font Size
  • Show / Hide payment detail information
  • Show / Hide transaction receipt view

New Skin

The default skin for Management Console and POS has been replaced with a new Metro style skin. This gives a fresh look to the user interface.

Management Console Menu

The Management Console menus and menu items have been restructured in iVend 6.4 under the following 3 categories:

  • Administration
  • Operations
  • Reports

A search function has also been added to the Menu structure to quickly search for the required menu item. This makes navigation easy.

Replication and Integration Monitors

With iVend 6.4, Replication and Integration monitors have been moved within the iVend Management Console. This will allow users to monitor the integration and replication queues from any machine running the management console application.

POS based Support for Payment Gateway

With iVend 6.4, Payment Gateway configuration can now be attached at the POS level.

Tax Condition Setup

The Tax Condition Setup has been enhanced in iVend 6.4 to include up to 3 attribute / attribute values and 3 UDF values per definition.

Multi-Language Item Description

With iVend 6.4, users will be able to define alternate product description in different languages. Based on the language attached to the POS user:

  • The products can be searched on the alternate product description defined for that language.
  • The product search results will display the product description for that language
  • The main transaction screen will display the product description for that language
  • The alternate product description can be printed on transaction receipt.

Coupon Enhancements

The coupons functionality has been enhanced in iVend 6.4. Coupons can now be issued automatically to the customer based on the transaction total by configuring them under promotions. The coupon value can be a fixed amount or a percentage of the transaction total.

e-Receipts

With iVend 6.4, the transaction receipt can be emailed to the customer. This functionality requires the user to develop a transaction receipt template using the iVend Report Designer. The transaction receipt template is attached to the retail profile.

Datacap Pin Pad Enhancements

Pin pad integration with UIC 795 has been enhanced to support swiping of gift cards on the terminal. This removes the need of having a separate MSR for swiping the gift cards in case user is already using the UIC 795 for swiping the credit cards.

Signature captured on UIC 795 is also integrated with iVend.

System Information

On completion of the End of Day procedure at stores the application will automatically collect system parameters such as Database Size, Free Disk Space, Top Tables by Database Space, Last Database Backup, Last Database Consistency Check, etc and replicate this to the iVend Enterprise for remote monitoring. This information can be accessed by executing a system query – Store Server Performance Report from the iVend Query Manager.

SAP Business One 9.1 Integration

iVend 6.4 will support integration to SAP Business One 9.1.

The integration has been extended to Branch Management in SAP Business One 9.1.

Stock Transfer Document Cancellation

With iVend 6.4, users will be able to cancel Stock Transfer Documents created from SAP Business One and Stock Transfer Documents created from iVend store for the general warehouse.

Restrict Duplicate Barcode on Product

A new setting has been provided in iVend 6.4 to restrict the user from defining the same barcode on more than one product. This setting is turned off by default.

Scan to define Product Barcode on Product Card

With iVend 6.4, scanning a product barcode on the product card screen would populate the barcode into the UPC Code field. This avoids manual entry of UPC Code on the product card.

End of Day Process

A new setting has been provided in iVend 6.4 to restrict the user from setting a past date as the next business date.

Customer Code on Transfer Order

Customer code field has been added to the Stock Transfer document keeping this in line with the SAP Business One stock transfer document.

Comments on Goods Receipt PO

While creating a Goods Receipt PO based on a Purchase Order, the comments on the Purchase Order document are automatically copied to the Good Receipt PO document.

Historical Transaction Import

The Data Import functionality in iVend will now support importing of historical sales transactions. This functionality is specially useful when migrating from a legacy system to iVend Retail. This will allow the POS users to perform sale refunds based on the imported historical transactions. The sale transaction reports will also consider the imported transactions. Historical transactions can only be imported before the first transaction is performed on the POS.

Product Import

The Data Import functionality in iVend has been enhanced for product imports. The product import template can now include multiple comma-separated values for Alternate UPC Codes and Product Attributes. The import template can also include Item Cost.

Collect Rounded Amount as Donation

A new setting has been provided in iVend to round the transaction total to the next dollar and collect the rounded amount as donation.

Import Purchase Order items

Import functionality has been provided on the purchase order screen to import purchase order items from a text file. The import text file can include product code, quantity, price and tax code.

End of Day Procedure for Mobile POS

With iVend 6.4, the End of Day procedure has been extended to Mobile POS.

Mobile POS – New Hardware Support

Following new hardware are now supported by the iVend Mobile POS:

  • Epson – M244A WIFI Receipt Printer
  • Cash Drawer via Epson – M244A Printer
  • Koamtac KDC 400 Sleeve with barcode scanner and MSR for iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S5
  • Ingenico iSMP Payment Terminal (for Australia)
  • Motorola TC55 – Touch Mobile Computer for Android Mobile POS

Quotation Transaction from Mobile POS

Quotation transaction type has been added to the iVend Mobile POS. A quotation created on the Mobile POS can be converted to Sales Order or Sale on the Mobile POS.

Sales Order Fulfillment from Mobile POS

A sales order booked in iVend via the Mobile POS or Terminal POS can be fulfilled via the Mobile POS. A new screen in the Management Console allows the user to create customer fulfillment packages and assign them to Mobile POS for fulfillment. The Mobile POS user can lookup delivery packages on Mobile POS along with their customer location on Google / Apple Maps. Pending payments against fulfillment can also be collected from the Mobile POS.

Item and Sale Attributes on Mobile POS

The Mobile POS application has been enhanced to record Item and Sale attributes while performing a transaction. Regular Expressions defined for Item and Sale attributes are also supported on Mobile POS

UDF Support for Customer Card on Mobile POS

The Mobile POS application has been enhanced to support UDFs on customer master. While creating / updating a customer on the Mobile POS, the user can record values in the customer master UDFs. Regular Expressions defined on UDFs are also supported on Mobile POS.

New Payment Types on Mobile POS

With iVend 6.4, the Mobile POS will additionally support the following payments types:

  • Foreign Currency
  • Customer Tender

Gift Card Transaction on Mobile POS

With iVend 6.4, the Mobile POS will support the following Gift Card transactions:

  • Gift Card sale
  • Gift Card re-charge
  • Gift Card cash back

Coupon Enhancements on Mobile POS

With iVend 6.4, users can issues coupons to customers from Mobile POS that can be printed on receipt and / or can be emailed to the customer.

Loyalty Customer Registration on Mobile POS

With iVend 6.4, the Mobile POS application has been enhanced to support registration of loyalty customers.

Catalogue View on Mobile POS

With iVend 6.4, the Mobile POS application will include a catalogue view for product selection.

Touch ID support for IOS Devices

With iVend 6.4, the Mobile POS application has been enhanced to support Login using Touch ID on Apple IOS Devices.

Filed Under: iVend Retail, Product update Tagged With: , , , ,

CitiXsys Partner ICS Sharpens iVend Product Skills with Training

January 16, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Citixsys

CitiXsys conducted a five-day, intensive training session on improving CitiXsys iVend Retail product knowledge for approximately 13 staff members of Integrated Computer Systems, Inc. (ICS). ICS is one of the Philippines’ leading IT solutions providers, with over 35 years of experience in providing technological expertise including nationwide sales and services.

ICS was founded in 1978 as the country distributor of Radio Shack. Over the last 35 years, the company has experienced significant growth, added several verticals to its product offering and garnered numerous awards attesting to its success and dedication to its clients. For example, ICS received the Dell Most Valuable Enterprise Partner Award in 2013, and was the Cisco Select Partner of the Year (also 2013).

The objective of the advanced classroom training program was to help the candidates gain in-depth knowledge about Training iVend Retail solutions, including Terminal POS, Mobile POS, Loyalty and Passes. The training was conducted at the ICS Philippines headquarters by David Webb, who is the Director of Partner Enablement and Client Connect at CitiXsys Technologies.

During the training program, the candidates learnt module implementation, configuration and overall use of the software. The ‘students’ also learnt valuable product enablement processes and methodologies including best practice techniques. Through these intensive classroom sessions, the ICS team has increased their skills, which all acknowledge will ultimately lead to realisation of greater benefit to the end-customers, helping them streamline their businesses for greater productivity and profitability.

It is of particular note that all of the participating candidates achieved certification in Implementation of CitiXsys iVend Retail solutions at the conclusion of the 5 day training program.

Talking about the product learning session, David Webb expressed, “It was a real pleasure running the training in our solutions for the team at ICS. It was great to experience their enthusiastic interest in every topic and see such dedication in participation to all aspects of the training activities. The high level of professionalism shown by the ICS staff is something they can be proud of, and worthy of recognition.”

This classroom session with ICS is one of several that CitiXsys is planning for the Middle East, USA, South East Asia and Australia in this coming year. It has been uplifting to see that several valued partners of CitiXsys have already signed up for these training sessions.

In the end, (as the ICS candidates experienced!) what emerges is a smarter, sharper CitiXsys product expert.

Filed Under: Retail Blogs Tagged With: , , , , ,

Forecasting: Maximizing Retail Revenues

August 6, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Forecasting: Maximizing Retail Revenues

Sales forecasting is a crucial part of the financial planning of a retail business, essentially is the process of estimating future business’s sales. A forecast is based on historical sales data and is done for a particular period of a time in the near future, usually the next calendar year. A sales forecast enables a company to make informed business decisions regarding inventory or cash flow or plan for growth.

It is for this reason, forecasting is a central activity in any retail operations. It is a self-assessment tool that uses past and Forecasting Maximizing Retail Revenuescurrent sales statistics to intelligently predict future performance.

Forecasting methods anticipate the future purchasing actions of consumers by evaluating past revenue and consumer behavior over the previous months or year to decipher patterns and develop forecasts for the upcoming months. Data is adjusted for seasonal trends, and then a plan for ordering and stocking products may follow the analysis. After fulfillment of current and forthcoming customer purchases and orders, an assessment of the results is compared with previous forecasts, and the entire procedure is repeated.

Function

Optimization of business decisions in a retail organization largely depends on the ability to forecast demand accurately. The optimization of order quantities, stock levels, or store shipment allocation depends on the aptitude of a retailer to forecast accurately demand at store and/or SKU level.

In retail management, forecasting serves to predict and meet the demands of consumers while controlling pricing and inventory. Holding excess inventory adds to overhead costs for a business whereas under stocking may lead to loss of revenue. Forecasting helps the retailer to meet the demands of the customer by understanding consumer purchase patterns better. It is also known to assist in more efficient use of shelf and display space within the retail establishment, in addition to optimal use of inventory space.

Benefits:

Accurate forecasts that meet the forthcoming consumption demands of customers help retail business owners and management to maximize and extend profits over the long term. Forecasting permits price adjustments to correspond with the current level of consumer spending patterns. Maintaining and controlling a sufficient but moderate inventory that meets the need without being excessive also adds to long-term profits in the retail industry.
Major financial benefits of inbuilt forecasting in iVend Retail include:

  • Return on capital: Inventory is the largest investment in a retail organization. It is therefore important to forecast inventory by an accurate demand prediction that helps generate return on capital. High inventory is a drain on capital for any retail organization.
  • Cash flow: Accurate forecasts are important to keep capital free that is otherwise tied up in excess inventory.
  • Revenues: It has become important to sense customer demands to provide visibility and to market acceptance. Forecasting helps companies to support better revenue management by adjusting sourcing and distribution strategies and avoiding unproductive accumulation of inventory.
  • Earnings: It is seen that good business sense is in adapting to supply chain optimization strategies. Accurate demand helps in precise supply chain decisions. Costly write offs are created If inventory becomes obsolete and that can result in significant disposal costs.

To know more about How retail Forecasting functions in iVend Retail 6.2 write back to us on [email protected] or contact your local CSM.

Filed Under: iVend Retail, Product update Tagged With: , , , ,

iVend Retail Dashboards

July 23, 2014 by Leave a Comment

iVend dashboard

Intense transformation in retail industry puts retail technology and information technology in key focus. The data collected from various 200by200 dashboardssources is expected to converge together to derive actionable metrics and give a competitive advantage to retailer’s.

The data is collected in volumes from all possible sources. New technology deployments are driven by an increased focus to use this voluminous data to deliver a better customer experience. Mobile and instore point of sale (POS) systems, mobile apps, online stores, generate a tremendous volume of transactional data. This data is a critical source of information to retailers in providing new insights into operations and business.

With increasing reliance on real-time visibility across a multitude of platforms, today’s retail technology faces a formidable challenge in deriving actionable and accurate insights generated by different retail touch points.

iVend Retail helps retailers’ take full competitive advantage of the wealth of information present in transactional data with iVend Dashboards. These are build-in dashboards available in iVend Management Console. These include inventory snapshots, comparative sales by month, quarter, year; promotional sales, top sellers, gift certificate analysis, promotion analysis, top and bottom performers, sales contribution, sales trends and many more.

This application allows creation of fully interactive business intelligence dashboards for Retailers. iVend Dashboards includes a completely optimized drag and drop feature for faster creation of dashboards. These dashboards created can either be viewed from within iVend Management Console or viewed in any standard browser using the iVend web viewer. With iVend Dashboards, interactive drill down reports can also be created which can be viewed using a web browser.

iVend Dashboards extend a detailed snapshot of business performance levels. Effective, informative and intelligent analysis tools gather data in one place to report on essential KPIs for retail business. The dashboards can be tailored to uncover strategic possibilities within current plans and explore best paths to effect positive results and genuine sustainable improvement.

A retailer can now choose to build his own or modify dashboards to assess the progress of current performance levels. Retailers can now focus on different areas of analysis and swiftly customize each performance overview, Stay in sync with live and current retail metrics to remain in touch with retail business performance level even when on the move

By applying innovative purpose-built data management, reporting and analytics technologies with iVend Dashboards, retailers have the opportunity to take advantage to access and view retail insights to reap significant benefits — they can improve the end customer experience, increase wallet share and drive higher profits.

Filed Under: iVend Retail Tagged With: , ,

iVend eCommerce 1.4 enables Mobile responsive sites

July 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment

iVend eCommerce 1.4 - Release Enables Mobile Responsive Sites

With great pleasure we announce today the release of iVend eCommerce 1.4 version, which in addition to a host of features,  includes the new Mobile Responsive skin enriching the online shopping experience. Also significant in this release is the RTL (right to left) feature which will enable right to left languages like Arabic to be displayed appropriately.

Listed below are the main features that have been incorporated in this release.

Mobile Responsive Skin

The default skin in iVend eCommerce has been replaced with a new mobile responsive skin. The new skin is intuitive and rich in user experience.

download

PromotionsPromotions

With iVend eCommerce 1.4 store admin can define exhaustive promotions for the online store. Promotions can be setup to auto apply or can applied manually by the shopper by entering a promo code. Following are some of the sample promotions that can be setup in iVend eCommerce:

  • Buy X and get Y free
  • Buy X and get Z % or Fixed Amount discount on Y
  • Buy any item from Product Group / Product Category / Manufacturer and get Z% or Fixed Amount discount on YiVend Banner1012x1012
  • Buy N quantity from Product Group / Product Category / Manufacturer and get Z% or Fixed Amount discount on Y
  • Get X discount percent on the entire sale if Bill values exceeds N amount.
  • Buy N quantity and get Z% discount on Shipping
  • Buy any item from Product Group / Product Category / Manufacturer and get Gift Certificate free
  • Get discount on current order based on total bill value of past orders within a date range.
  • Get discount on current order based on number of past orders within a date range.
  • Get discount on current order based on total bill value of past orders within a date range.
  • Get discount on current order based on past purchase of specific products within a date range.

The Promotional Sale Countdown Timer is a very handy tool in promoting time bound sales. On the Product Page it displays Days, Hours, Minutes and Seconds remaining for the validity of a special price on the product. This tool draws attention of shoppers and is helpful for time sensitive sale events and is perfect for Seasonal Sales, Holiday Sales, etc.

Coupon-IssueCoupon Issue

Coupons are a great way to attract shoppers to keep coming back to the online store and avail discounts on subsequent purchases. With iVend eCommerce 1.4 the store admin can setup automated delivery of coupons based on rules. Following are some of the examples:

  • Issue a discount coupon in the welcome mail whenever a shopper registers on the portal between X and Y dates.
  • Issue a discount coupon in the receipt when the bill value is more that X
  • Issue a discount coupon in the receipt on purchase of specific products between X and Y dates.
  • Issue a discount coupon in the receipt if past order value exceeds X within a date range.
  • Issue a discount coupon in the receipt on every Nth order placed on the portal
  • Issue a discount coupon in the receipt for the first N orders.
  • Issue a discount coupon in the receipt for specific customer or customer group
  • Issue a discount coupon in the receipt on use of specific payment method
  • Issue a discount coupon in the receipt only once per customer between a date range.

Payment-ProfilePayment Profile

Payment Profile in iVend eCommerce 1.4 allow the Site Admin to setup conditions based on which payment methods will be available to shoppers during the checkout process. Following are some of the examples:

  • If the Bill total exceeds X then block checkout by COD.
  • If the shopper is purchasing from a specific Product Group / Product Category / Manufacturer then allow checkout only by Credit Card.
  • If the customer balance exceeds the available credit limit then block checkout by PO option.
  • Based on customer’s shipping address (Country, State, City, Zip) block checkout by COD.
  • For specific customer or customer group block checkout by specific payment methods.

Customer-HierarchyCustomer Hierarchy

For B2B implementations the site admin can setup a parent child relationship between customer records. This will allow the Parent customer to:

  • View orders placed by his child customers
  • Make payment for orders placed by his child customers
  • Impersonate any of his child customers and place an order on their behalf.

Store-CreditStore Credit

With iVend eCommerce 1.4 a store credit can be issued for refunds against cancelled orders. Store Credits issued from iVend eCommerce can also be redeemed at iVend POS at the brick and mortar stores.

Store-locatorStore locator

The store locator in iVend eCommrce 1.4 will enable shoppers to locate brick and mortar stores close to their location. Shoppers can search for stores by city or zip code. The store locator is integrated with Google Map that will help the shopper to get directions to store easily.

Price-Display--Tax-Inclusive--ExclusivePrice Display (Tax Inclusive/Exclusive)

iVend eCommerce 1.4 can be setup to display the Tax Inclusive or Tax Exclusive product prices for a specific customer or customer group.

Quotation-to-OrderQuotation to Order

iVend eCommerce 1.4 can be configured to allow shoppers to generate a quotation by selecting Quotation as the payment method during the checkout process. The site admin can setup a validity period for a quotation. Shoppers can further convert quotations to orders.

UDFUDF Integration

UDFs created on Customer and Product objects in iVend POS are integrated with iVend eCommerce 1.4. UDFs created on customer object can be used for collecting additional information during the registration process. UDFs on product object will be available as Read-Only on the Product Page.

CC-Avenue-Payment-Gateway-IntegrationCC Avenue Payment Gateway Integration

iVend eCommerce 1.4 is integrated to CC Avenue Payment Gateway for online payments. With this integration the shopper has the option to pay by Credit Card, Debit Card and Net Banking. This feature is only available for India.

RTL-SupportRTL Support

iVend eCommerce 1.4 can be setup to display the Storefront section in Right to Left format for Arabic language.

Approval-based-Order-IntegrationApproval based Order Integration

iVend eCommerce 1.4 can be setup to integrate online orders to iVend Enterprise based on payment methods. For example – A COD order will not automatically integrate to iVend Enterprise unless approved by the site admin.

Report-DesignerReport Designer

A new reporting module has been included in iVend eCommerce 1.4. An admin user can change the existing canned reports as well as create new reports. The store admin can also publish reports to the storefront section for specific customer / customer group.

Enhancements

Improved Digital Download

Digital Downloads functionality has been enhanced in iVend eCommerce 1.4. The site admin can now setup a validity period for the download link.

Site Configuration Wizard (Admin Section)

The site configuration wizard in iVend eCommerce 1.4 has been enhanced for better end user experience by grouping configuration settings under different sections.

Integrated Application Pool

The iVend eCommerce 1.4 Website can now be run in a .Net 4.0 Integrated Application Pool.

Popup on IE10 and above

Admin editing popup windows now work with IE10.

Caching Product Price

With this release, the product price is being cached which substantially improves the overall web site performance.

Filed Under: iVend eCommerce, Product update Tagged With: , ,

What’s new in iVend POS 6.2

June 9, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Citixsys Inside Banner

Reiterating its strong commitment to continuous innovation to create profitable retailers and happy consumers, CitiXsys released a feature rich, iVend 6.2 earlier this week. This release of iVend Retail has numerous features, all aimed to extend valuable business benefits to the retailers.

This post talks about the features introduced in this release and their business benefits to retailers.

New Application Icons

iVend POS version 6.2 introduces new application icons

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Management Console

Configuration Manager

Merchandise Hierarchy

Every retail organization, regardless of its size, has a merchandise hierarchy for all the goods. A Merchandise Hierarchy is a reporting structure under which sales and inventories of products are tracked and managed.

With the introduction of Merchandise Hierarchy in iVend POS 6.2, users will be able to:200by200

  1. Define multiple Merchandise Hierarchies in the system
  2. Attach more than one Merchandise Hierarchy to individual products.
  3. Top down reporting at all Merchandise Hierarchy levels

Following is an example of a typical Merchandise Hierarchy:

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ForecastingForecasting

Forecasting or (better known as) Sales Forecasting is the process of estimating future business’s sales. A forecast is based on historical sales data and is done for a particular period of a time in the near future, usually the next calendar year. A sales forecast enables a company to make informed business decisions regarding inventory or cash flow or plan for growth.

For this reason, forecasting is a central activity in any retail operations.

Forecasting in iVend POS 6.2 provides a wide range of forecasting models with an automatic “best pick” option. The Forecast window in iVend Management Console is an intuitive interface that displays hierarchical data in a tree-like structure, allowing to work at different level of details with a simple click of the mouse. As user navigates from item to item, synchronized sections displaying graphical and tabular data are instantly updated.

Forecasts can be generated based on product, product group, product categories and merchandise hierarchy. Furthermore the forecast can be consumed in MRP calculations.

planningReplenishment Planning

Replenishment Planning functionality in iVend POS 6.2 is used to assist the purchase department make purchase orders and also assist the warehouse to suggest what needs to be transferred to the stores.

Replenishment Planning calculates gross requirements based on In Stock Quantity, open Sales Orders, open Purchase Orders, Forecasts, Stock Transfer Shipments, Stock Transfer Requests, etc. The Replenishment Planning module also takes into account predefined planning parameters such as Minimum Inventory, Minimum Order Quantity and Lead Time.

Replenishment Planning functionality can be run centrally at the iVend Enterprise or can be run at the stores. Replenishment Planning functionality makes recommendations to replenish warehouses and/or stores by purchase order documents and/or transfer order documents.

This feature will be available to customers using iVend POS as a standalone application (Unplugged) without integration to an ERP system.

iVend-Dashboards iVend Dashboards

iVend Dashboard designer allows users to create fully interactive business intelligence dashboards for a retail business. iVend Dashboard makes the complex and time consuming aspects of dashboard design a thing of the past by introducing a fully optimized drag & drop feature so users can create dashboards in record time.

The Dashboards created in iVend can be viewed either from iVend management console or in any standard browser using the iVend web viewer.

iVend Dashboards bring a whole new aspect to the reporting as users can now create interactive and drill down reports which can be viewed using a web browser.

Stock-Management-with-Handheld-Devices_iconStock Management with Handheld Devices

The Handheld module in iVend POS 6.2 allows users to manage store inventory using a handheld device running Windows Mobile OS version 6.0 or 6.5.

Following inventory transactions can be performed using the iVend-Handheld module:

  • Good Receipt PO
  • Stock Transfer
    • Shipment
    • Receipt
  • Stock Management
    • Goods Issue
    • Goods Receipt
    • Goods Return to Vendor
    • Stock Take
    • Item Lookup

Learn More_Banner

Query_builer Visual Query Builder

iVend POS 6.2 comes with a visual query builder which helps in creation of Adhoc reports using SQL queries. The functionality helps user in writing queries by selecting data tables and then linking them by using drag and drop functionality. This avoids the need for user to remember the tables and column names while designing a query. The query builder renders all SQL features, such as sub-queries and unions. Using visual query builder, queries can be saved and executed multiple times.

item-costing Item Costing

Item Costing allows a company to provide a monetary value for items that make up their inventory. Inventories are usually the largest current asset of a business, and proper measurement of them is necessary to make business decisions. With the introduction of Standard Costing in iVend POS 6.2, retailers will be able to determine product profitability and thereby make necessary decisions for their business.

This feature is available to customers using iVend POS as a standalone application (Unplugged) without integration to an ERP system.

Transaction_Server Transaction Server

Intra-store transaction processing requires all transaction data to be replicated across the retail landscape. This proves to be an unnecessary overhead especially for retailers who have large number of stores and / or have high transaction volume.

With the introduction of Transaction Server in iVend POS 6.2 it is no longer necessary to replicate the transaction data across retail stores. Transaction Server is a Web application hosted on the iVend Enterprise Server that serves transaction data to the POS via embedded web service calls. The POS at stores can lookup transactions locally from the store database and if transactions are not available locally, the transactions can be retrieved from the Enterprise Server via the Transaction Server.

Following are the key benefits of this functionality:

  1. Intra-store transaction processing does not require transactions to be replicated across the retail landscape.
  2. Reduces data bandwidth consumption.
  3. Increases the overall speed of data replication between stores.
  4. SQL Express can be used effectively at stores as data can be purged. This brings down the overall cost of deployment and maintenance.

user-interface User Interface Enhancements

iVend POS 6.2 includes several UI enhancements:

  1. Collapsible Menu Bar in iVend Management Console: Users can now collapse the Menu bar in iVend Management console that provides additional working space on the screens.
  2. Changing Captions: Users can now change label and button captions by accessing the Change Caption option from the right click menu.
  3. Validation Rules: Users can now setup following validation rules on screens accessible from the iVend Management Console. Relevant validation rules can be setup from the right click context menu.
    1. Hiding fields on screens.
    2. Making a field mandatory on screens.
    3. Specify Minimum and Maximum length for data.
    4. Specify Minimum and Maximum value for data.
    5. Specify regex pattern in which data should be entered in the field.

Fixed-Price-Promotion Fixed Price Promotion

With iVend POS 6.2, Bonus Buy promotions have been enhanced to include Fixed Price promotion type making it far more comprehensive.

With Fixed Price promotion, retailers can offer Products to customers on a Fixed Price when a certain purchase criteria is fulfilled. Some examples of Fixed Price promotions are

  • Buy product “X” and get product “Y” at a fixed price.

Buy iPhone 5 and get Plantronics Bluetooth headset for $22.

  • Buy product “X” and product “Y” at a fixed price.

Buy Canon PowerShot Camera with 4GB SanDisk Memory Card for $79.

  • Buy “N” quantity of product “X” at a fixed price.

Buy any 5 DVDs for $10 instead of their regular price.

  • Buy any “N” products from a product category/product group “X” and get a product from product category/product group “Y” at a fixed price.

Purchase 2 Shirts and 2 Trousers and Get a cap at $4

integration-with-hana iVend POS Integration with SAP Business One, version for SAP HANA

Take your business to the Next Level of performance with iVend POS 6.2 integrated to SAP Business One, version for SAP HANA.

SAP Business One, version for SAP HANA is a scalable business application with following key benefits:

  • Dramatically improved responsiveness of planning, sales, production, and financial processes
  • Faster business insight for improved decision making
  • Unmatched performance gains as more users access the software concurrently

Report Inventory Turns Report

Inventory Turns (also known as Inventory Turnover) report has been added under the reports menu in iVend Management Console. The Inventory turnover is a measure of the number of times inventory is sold or used in a time period such as a year.

A low turnover rate may point to overstocking, obsolescence, or deficiencies in the product line or marketing effort. However, in some instances a low rate may be appropriate, such as where higher inventory levels occur in anticipation of rapidly rising prices or expected market shortages.

Conversely a high turnover rate may indicate inadequate inventory levels, which may lead to a loss in business, as the inventory is too low. This often can result in stock shortages.

Purchase-Order-Authorization Purchase Order Authorization

In iVend POS 6.2 a new User Role has been added for Purchase Order authorization. Users with insufficient privileges will be able to add purchase orders in “Un-Approved” (Draft) state. Users with sufficient privileges can approve these purchase orders. Moreover a Good Receipt can only be created for “Approved” purchase orders.

Audit-log-for-Transaction-Voids Audit log for Transaction Voids

In iVend POS 6.2 a new configuration setting had been provided under the POS Profile setup to log transactions voided by the cashier.

Additionally a new report has been added to display details of Voided Transactions.

z-report Z-Report

An XML Based Z-Report has been added in iVend POS version 6.2. This Z-Report is printed from the POS on closing the till.

Enhancements

Stock Transfer Cancellation

With iVend POS 6.2 the Stock Transfer functionality has been enhanced to allow cancellation of Stock Transfer Shipment. A user at the Shipping Store can mark a Stock Transfer Shipment for cancellation. If the Stock Transfer is not received at the receiving location, the system will confirm the stock transfer cancellation.

User defined item codes

Customers running iVend POS 6.2 in stand alone mode will now be able to enter Item Codes manually at the iVend Enterprise.

Sales Figures on POS

The X Tape report in iVend POS 6.2 has been enhanced to display sales figures. This will enable the cashier to see the total sales done under various categories during the day. These sales figures can also be printed on the receipt.

Ability to create PO in Franchise Stores

iVend POS 6.2 enhances operations for Franchise Owned stores. A Franchise store can now create local vendors and local purchase orders.

Data purging for specific stores

Data purging feature helps the administrator to control the size of iVend database at each store. Data purging at stores are controlled centrally and is scheduled from iVend Enterprise at Head Office. Once data purge activity is scheduled from iVend Enterprise the actual data purging happens at the store when the store manager runs the End of Day routine

With iVend POS 6.2 the Administrator can now schedule the data purge activity for specific stores.

Limit items per transaction

A new configuration setting has been added under retail setting to define a limit for numbers of items per transaction. This setting is generally used in scenarios where there is a constraint on printing space in case of pre-printed stationary.

Variable support for Thermal Receipts

Thermal receipt can now support user-defined variables. This will help end users to define new variables in the receipt and perform calculations based on custom logic. This will provide a much-needed flexibility for the thermal printer users, as they now will be able to do the calculations based on the required conditions.

Health Check for iVend APIs

A new health check utility has been added to the iVend Configuration Manager to check connection to iVend APIs. This health check utility warns the user if any issues are found while making a connection to iVend APIs. This will help the user in finding the root cause for connectivity failures.

Health Check for Auto-updates

The Automatic-Updates functionality in iVend POS enables customers to receive product updates Over the Air. A new health check utility has been added to the iVend Configuration Manager to check connectivity to the iVend Updates Server. The iVend Updates Server may be inaccessible due to network security settings. This health check utility will warn the user if connection to the iVend Updates Server cannot be established.

Multi-currency Payments Integration with SAP Business One

With iVend POS 6.2, payments received in foreign currency at the POS can now be integrated to separate G/L accounts in SAP Business One. New sets of configuration settings have been provided in the iVend Add-on to enable this.

Integration of Valid Value type UDFs defined in SAP Business One

Valid Value type UDFs defined in SAP Business One can now be integrated with iVend POS 6.2.

Manager Override on POS

With iVend POS 6.2, following additional Manager Override options have been added:

  • Transaction Mode Change
  • Customer Search
  • Product Search
  • Sale Information Edit
  • Item Information Edit
  • Transaction Search
  • Fulfillment
  • Suspend/Recall
  • Delete Payment

Restrict Price Change on Purchase Order

A new authorization has been added in iVend POS 6.2, to restrict the user from changing the price on Purchase Orders.

Filed Under: Blog, iVend Retail, Product update Tagged With: , ,

iVend Retail 5.8 released

June 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment

A new version of iVend 5.8 was released earlier this month with following features and enhancements-

New Features

iVend Installer

iVend 5.8 comes with an upgraded and more intuitive installer. Running this installer allows the user to install iVend Unplugged in a demo mode with demo database for a faster and quicker setup of a demo environment. The installer also allows to utilize an existing iVend Unplugged database.

Implementation Center for iVend Unplugged

Implementation center provides different options to quickly setup and start using iVend. Using implementation center, user can setup iVend using the wizard driven setup or can use the copy express to copy the setting from an already setup iVend database, which would have been used for the UAT (User Acceptance Testing).

Automatic Upgrades

Automatic Upgrades helps the site administrators to easily upgrade to the new release of iVend. Before the upgrade is initiated, information about the published upgrades can be seen by the administrator in the iVend Configuration Manager helping the administrator to decide an appropriate time to upgrade to the new release. This eliminates the need to individually upgrade each station

Customers upgrading to iVend 5.8 must update the connection setting from iVend Configuration manager.

Data Purge iVend

This feature helps the Administrator to control the size of the iVend database at each store. Data purging at stores are controlled centrally and is scheduled from iVend Enterprise at Head Office.

Database Optimization

iVend has inbuilt database checking and optimization tool. While executing End of Day process, the store manager can chose to run the iVend database optimization script. iVend database optimization includes checking the database for any inconsistent data, rebuilding the indexes and shrinking the database log files.

Detection of Retail Peripherals at the POS

Whenever iVend POS is installed for the first time, the application will suggest the OPOS peripherals for which the device drivers are pre-installed. This saves valuable time in appropriately configuring standard retail peripherals at each POS.

Mercury Payment Processor

Mercury payment processor integration for US has been incorporated in this release.

DBS Payment Processor

DBS payment processor integration for Singapore has been incorporated in this release. The integration also supports the debit card sales with the PIN entry.

Enhancements

Store Specific Sales Person

iVend supports defining a sales person and then attaching it to a specific store. This allows better and effective management of store executives across the retail chain. This feature also allows defining store executives which may be common across all the stores in the retail chain.

Purchase Order

Purchase orders for the stores can be created from iVend Enterprise in iVend Unplugged. This feature also gives an option to edit the purchase order at iVend Enterprise which were created from the stores.

Batch/Serial Based Promotion

Promotions can now be defined for particular item batches/serial of an item. This functionality enables the user for running the promotions based of serial/batches.

Discount Amount in Promotion

User now has an option to define the discounts either in percentage or in absolute amount terms on the promotion.

For more details on iVend Retail 5.8 Features and an exclusive demo Register Here

Filed Under: iVend Retail, Product update Tagged With: , ,

How iVend Retail Can Help Footwear Retailers

February 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Fashion Retailers in general and footwear retailers in particular are faced with additional challenges. FootwearFast changing fashion trends, an extremely cost sensitive consumer, stiff competition from departmental store with well-appointed shoe departments; discount shoe stores and outlets, as well as general merchandise discounters such as Wal-Mart, exert additional pressure on the footwear retailer to remain competitive.

Trade regulations aside, retailers heavily rely on imports from Far East at extremely competitive prices. Not only is the logistics of delivery critical, it is equally critical to source the right mix of style, size and color. Ability to collate, analyze and act on consumer buying patterns, sales trends and changes in fashion industry are imperative to succeed in the footwear industry.

A Footwear Retailer is faced with the challenge to:

  • Keep in touch with the fashion industry – ensuring that the stores have the right mix of styles, colors and sizes
  • Periodically run promotions & campaigns to increase footfall and decrease slow moving items
  • Remain closer to the consumer and analyze his buying patterns and sales trends.

Such a balance requires an integrated business management solution that allows flexibility to cater to the diverse & unique demands of Footwear Retailers. A system that seamlessly integrates all business processes from the POS at store to the planners at the Head Office lowering the overall cost of operations, simplifying expansion and enabling the Footwear Retailer maintain his unique proposition and positioning.

iVend Retail – a complete retail management suite offers to footwear retailers ability to address these business and operational challenges. The application suite allows footwear retailers to:

  • Stay connected with business operations

iVend Retail comes as an end-to-end retail management solution for footwear retailers, seamlessly integrating point of sale, in store inventory management, logistics, back office store and head office operations.

iVend Retail has certified integrations to SAP suite of business management solutions and also integrates to other ERPs and accounting applications through its APIs. This failsafe integration with an ERP / accounting application keeps the head office always connected with store operations across the complete retail chain.

  • Inventory control and replenishment planning

Head office operations get complete visibility of stock across the retail chain and can effectively replenish stocks rather than relying on store requisitions. Additionally the merchandising department can raise purchase orders in time to avoid stock out situations.

Store Managers and POS operators can gain complete visibility of stock across stores or at the main warehouse / distribution centers right from the POS interface.

  • Promotions that maximize profitability

Manage targeted promotions in multiple formats by easily analyzing detailed customer trends at individual stores and across the retail chain.

  • Retain customers and manage customer communication

iVendLoyalty allows retailers to define flexible / attractive campaigns, ensuring customer loyalty.

Visit iVend.com to know more about how can iVend Retail Management Suite can help you before more profitable and your customers more engaged.

 

Filed Under: iVend Retail Tagged With:
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